Africa vs Europe - price for mobile Internet
Updated: Jun 10, 2019
We usually take it for granted, and.. people in some parts of the world, especially in some countries in Africa, really struggle to get access to so called World Wide Web.
Africa is the poorest continent by GDP per capita.
In Africa, countries in the southernmost part of the continent pay the most for 1 GB of data. Zimbabwe pays the highest price both in Africa and in the world ($75.20)
Countries such as Equatorial Guinea ($65.83) and Saint Helena ($55.47) also pay more than $50.
Conversely, Sudan ($0.68) and the Democratic-Republic of the Congo ($0.88) both pay less than $1 per GB.
Let's look how it will look on the map:
Can you imagine paying $75 for 1 GB? Or even more than $10.
Let's see how it look in more developed region, Europe.
European countries have a great degree of variation in cost for mobile data.
Several countries pay more than $10 for 1 GB, such as Portugal ($13.98), Greece ($32.71), and Switzerland ($20.22).
However, Ukraine pays only $0.51.
And again let's look on the map:
Even though we've found some countries with rather high cost, keep in mind that salaries are much higher in that region so purchasing power is also different. It simply means that people can afford paying $13 for 1 GB in Norway, but people in Botswana, rather will not swallow similar amount.
Interesting fact is that the lowest price we have in Ukraine - $0.51, and relatively high in fully digital Estonia pays $3.67. Ukraine has cheaper Internet than Sudan or DR Congo which actually lead the peleton in Africa with prices $0.68, $0.88. Even though the prices in Africa can be similar than in Europe for some countries, we have to agree that internet users on the African continent are paying the highest prices for mobile data relative to average monthly income. And I don't want to say here that we should decrease prices for African countries - I am saying, that we have to increase their salaries :) I know - easy to say! However - step by step - we will make it happen! Together!